Complete Local SEO Checklist for Small Businesses

As a small business owner, owning a website and getting traffic is difficult. SEO (search engine optimization) is one of the most important factors which can help you to increase your ranking in search engines.

If you really want to grow your online business, there are certain SEO things you have to focus on. If you are not sure on what to focus, you can hire an SEO expert to improve your search results.

What is local SEO?

Local SEO is a process of optimizing your website for improving search engine ranking that is related to your area, city, or country. Local SEO Stats - SmallBusinessweb

Who needs local SEO?

Every business that has a specific address and operates in a specific place needs local SEO. Most of the people use the internet to search for businesses before they visit the place. If you miss the chance of displaying your business in front of them then, it means you are losing customers.

Benefits of local SEO for small business

Here are some benefits that you can acquire by practicing local SEO,

  • Improve your search engine ranking
  • Improves conversion as most of the people are targeted audience
  • Increases brand awareness and visibility
  • Attract local customers
  • Receive a high return on investment (ROI)

How local SEO differs from general SEO?

General SEO is applicable for the entire global wide search whereas local SEO is applicable only for specific geographical location.

If you are searching for a query on Google with your mobile, it will bring results near you as it already knows your current location. Likewise, if you are using your laptop and if you have allowed Google to track your location you will get nearby results.

11 steps- Local SEO checklist

Small Business Local SEO Strategy - SmallBusinessWeb

1. Don’t Forget SEO Titles, Descriptions & Url’s

Titles and descriptions play a major role in local SEO. It should help the users and search engines to understand certain important things before visiting the website. Therefore, optimizing titles, URLs and description is a must.

A local SEO optimized title should have 50-60 characters which include your location and area phone if possible. Also, your URLs must include your location to target your local audience like “https://www.example.com/web-development-coimbatore”.

2. Yes, NAHP Is Still Relevant

Try to include your full address details like street number, postcode, state, country, telephone number (make sure to include a local number with area code and not a toll-free number), fax number, email, etc as a text on the home page, footer, and all channels.

One of the important mistake that all people make is inconsistent NAP usage. Therefore, check whether your NAP information is the same on Facebook, Google My Business page, and other pages where you have listed your company.

3. Optimize Your Google My Business Listing

Google My Business listing is one of the significant SEO factors for local SEO. If you register your company with Google Business, Google will verify your address and ownership of the business by sending a code or making a phone call (depending upon your country).

If your business is verified by Google then, your company will show on the Google Map as well as on the local results box in SERPs. At last, make sure to

  • Provide correct and accurate NAP information
  • Provide up-to-date opening hours of your business
  • Respond to customer reviews regularly
  • Add photos of your business to Google My Business page if possible

4. Register With Yahoo Small Business

You can also register your business with Yahoo which offers service for local listings. This Yahoo service is not free, you have to pay between $10 – $30 /month.

If you subscribed for Yahoo local listings, don’t forget to link it with Google My Business page as GMB can act as a hub to link all your local profiles.

5. Register With Bing Small Business

Bing Places for Business is free. It is another way to verify your online business information. Make sure you link your Bing profile with Google My Business and vice versa.

6. Register With Local Directories

Register your business with local directories. Be careful while choosing the local directories and remember to provide a consistent address. Here are some trusted local directories,

Link building is an important tactic which can bring a huge impact on SEO efforts. Here are certain points on which you have to focus on,

  • Providing link-worthy content
  • Pursuing natural links
  • Promoting your website in all channels to acquire traffic
  • Optimizing content for Google featured snippet

8. Never Forget About Mobile

If you are trying to increase your customers locally, you must definitely concentrate on mobile optimization.

Did you know? According to Google, 53% of mobile website visits are abandoned if the website takes more than 3 seconds to load on a mobile device. It also says that for every one-second delay there will be a fall by 12%.

Therefore, mobile-friendly websites can improve user experience as well as website traffic.

Try to post high-quality content regularly and do location-aware interlinking whenever possible. For example, if you are posting a blog related to web development, you can link your service page using anchor “website development services India”. This is a part of optimization. You can also include targeting local keywords to your blog title and content as well.

10. Utilize Social Media

Maintaining an accurate profile on various social media channels like Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, etc can increase brand awareness. All these networks can suggest followers based on location or address information of your business.

Winding-up

Local SEO is a valuable tool for businesses that want to utilize the internet and acquire new customers. Follow the steps provided in the above checklist and improve your web traffic, brand visibility, and receive all the advantages of investing in SEO.

To know more about our services and find more related content, browse through our Small Business Web page.

If you’re willing to collaborate with us, you can contact our team at any moment by sending us a message or calling us at (919) 234-5140

Explore our affordable Digital Marketing pricing packages for small business, designed to boost your online presence and drive growth

Have we missed anything in our checklist? Do comment below!

In quest of the Perfect Small Business SEO Services & Solutions?

Be unrestricted to click the other trendy writes under this title that suits your needs the best!

Srividhya
About the Author - Srividhya

Srividhya is a copywriter at ColorWhistle. She’s passionate about writing blogs related to web development, web designing, online marketing, and more. In her spare time, she works out or paints.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Go to top
Close Popup

Let's Talk

    Sure thing, leave us your details and one of our representatives will be happy to call you back!

    Eg: John Doe
    Eg: United States
    Eg: johndoe@company.com
    More the details, speeder the process :)